Gravity conveyer chute



J. 5. DA COSTA GRAVITY CONVEYER CHUTE Nov. 3, 1925- Filed Oct. 31. 1924 Eight Patented Nov. 3, 1925.

1 UNIT ED FlCE.

JAMES 'S. De oos'r-n. onmnaonnnrvrnrn, NEW JERSEY, AssreNoR O THE I ar rseu oemrerw, OF Bos'roN, MASSAGHUSETTS, A LOOR-PQRATION OF NEW JEESEX.

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Application filed October 31, 1924. Serial No. 747,000.

To all whom it may cone-cm. 1

Be it known that 1, James S. I)A Cos'ixi, citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Merchantville, :in the county of Camden and State of New l1SQy,ll2lVQ il'lvented new and useful Improvements in Gravity Conveyer Chutes, of which the followingis specification.

This invention pertains to gravity convey'er chutes of the type commonly employed for transferring packages, articles of merchandise, etc. from up er to lower floors of buildings, and has tor its object the provision of a chute of such construction as substantially to prevent the packages or articles from becoming jammed between the sides of the chute and clogging the chute under normal conditions of use.

then chutes areen ployed for transifen ring paokagesor articles eta more or less resilient or compressible character, for example bundles of newspapers, magazines, etc, it is toundthat if the articles are not removed from the delivery end of the chute at once after their arrival the succeeding articles tend to jam and clog the chute so that even when the accumulation at the end of the chute is removed the jam remains unbroken and much difiiculty and unnecessary delay is experienced in clearing the chute before its operation may be resumed.

In the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated by way of example,--

Fig. 1 being a plan view partly in section showing a simple form of spiral chute embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation partly in section showing the chute of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view show ing a modification of the structure of Fig. 1.: and

Fig. at is a view similer to Fig. 3 but illustratin a further modification.

Referrlng to the drawings and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 the numeral 1 indicates one of the upper floors of a building and the numeral 2 a floor below it, while 3 designates a partition wall through which the chute may pass if desired.

The improved chute com rises the inclined floor 4: and the space side walls 5 and 6. These walls may be vertical as shown or if desired flared outwardly and under some circumstances the top of the chute may be closed. I

As shown in the drawings the upper end of the chute is furnished with a feeding. device consisting of an inclined support 7 provided with antih-iction rolls 8 upon which the-articles may beplaced. and along which they slide into the upper end of the chute. The lower end of the chute is pret crably spaced abovethe floor a suitable distance topen nit atruok or other conveyance to be placed beneath it so .as to receive the articles delivered by the chute but it is to be understood that the present invention is not concerned with the specific details 01" the location of the ends of the chute or the auxiliary devices which may be furnished for feeding articles to or'removing them from the chute.

In the examp e o n n F g 1 and 2 t hu of spira suhsten e yh1i form and is coiled about a vertical axis code if desi w t the ax of a p or column 16. lVhilebut one complete'coil is illustrated the invention is equally applicable to chutes comprising aplurality of turns or spirals.

In accordance with the present invention the guide channel defined by the floor 1 and the side walls 5 and 6 is of increasing width from the upper end 9 of the chute toward its lower end 10.

The increase in width in the guide chan nel is produced by causing the inner wall 5 of the chute gradually to approach the vertical axis of the chute as the chute descends from its upper toward its lower end, while at thesame time its outer wall 6 is maintained concentric with the upper axis of the chute. This construction is illustrated in Fig. 1 where the line 11 indicates the spacing of the wall. 5 from the axis of the post adjacent to the outer end of the chute while the line 12 indicates the lesser spacing of such inner wall as it approaches the lower end of the chute.

In a chute having the general dimensions shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the increase in width d'or best results should be approximately although it is to be understood that this width may be varied in accordance with circumstances, for example in accordance with variations in the length and diameter of the helical coils of the chute as Well as the character of the articles to be conveyed.

lVhen the chute is constructed in the manner above described so that its walls gradually recede from each other toward its lower end, it is found that even though the diameter of the spiral coil be relatively small and its pitch steep, and even though the articles to be conveyed are relatively heavy but easily compressed or of spongy character, such articles continue to flow in an uninterrupted stream so long as they are freely delivered from the end of the chute, and that there is no tendency or the articles to jam even when the lower end of the chute is temporarily blocked.

In Fig. 3 a slight modification of the structure is diagrammatically illustrated. The numeral '7' indicates the feeder device and the numerals 9 and 10 the upper and lower ends of the chute proper. The post or axis of the chute is indicated at 16? and in this instance the inner wall 5 of the chute is concentric with such axis. The outer Wall 6 of the chute gradually recedes from the axis as it descends, as illustrated by the lines 13 and 14, comparison of which in dicates the increase in distance between the axis and outer wall 6 as the latter descends from the top to the bottom of the chute.

In Fig. i a further modification is illustrated in which the numeral 7 indicates the feeder end of the chute,the numerals 9 and 10 the upper and lower ends of the chute proper, respectively,and 16 the central post or axis. In this instance the in ner wall 5 ofthe chute is spaced a maximum distance 11 from the axis at a point adjacent to the upper end of the chute and gradually approaches the axis as indicated by the length of line 12. On the other hand the outer Wall 6 is at a minimum dis tance 13 from the axis at a point adjacent to its upper end and gradually recedes from the axis toward its lower end as indicated by the line 14 The walls of the chute thus diverge from each other respectively from the upper toward the lower end of the chute.

The several forms of construction above described provide the necessary increase in width in the convolute guide channel along which the articles pass and either type of construction may be employed as may be most convenient in practice although the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 is preferred.

I claim:

1. A spiral conveyer chute comprising spaced side walls arranged to define an in clined convolute guide channel coiled about a vertical axis, one of said side Walls gradually approaching said axis as it descends.

2. A spiral conveyer chute comprising spaced side walls defining an inclined channel extending in a convolute path about a' vertical axis, one of said walls approaching said axis and the other diverging therefrom from the top to the bottom of the chute.

Signed by me at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this 28th day-0f October, 1924.

JAMES S. DA COSTA. 

